If you’re a voting member of the Country Music Association, check your email inbox. On Tuesday (July 6), you should have received the nominations ballot and instructions for the 55th annual CMA Awards.

Voting in the first nominations round extends through July 15. A second round of voting will be held from Aug. 2-12 in which the top 20 vote-getters in the first round square off. (In the top category, entertainer of the year, only the top 15 vote-getters compete.)

Nominations in each of the CMA’s 12 categories will be announced later this summer. Final-round voting will be conducted between Oct. 1-27. The awards will be presented in November.

The CMA has announced that it will allow Morgan Wallen, who is under a cloud because of his videotaped use of the N-word in January, to compete in categories in which there are other collaborators on the project, such as album of the year, but not in individual categories, such as male vocalist of the year.

It will be interesting to see if CMA voters nominate Wallen’s Dangerous: The Double Album for album of the year. The blockbuster is in its 22nd week at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Country Albums chart. Long-running No. 1 albums are usually nominated in this category. Of the 27 previous albums that have topped the country chart for 20 or more weeks, 20 have been nominated in this category. The most recent album to hit that mark before Wallen’s album, Luke Combs’ What You See Is What You Get, won in this category last year.

CMA voters may or may not be not be ready to let Wallen back in their good graces. He won new artist of the year at last year’s show in November 2020 — less than three months before the video that caused his high-flying career to implode.

The eligibility period for this year’s CMA Awards is July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2021.

Here are seven other burning questions that this year’s nominations and awards will answer.

Will last year’s uptick in female representation in entertainer of the year continue? Last year’s entertainer of the year nominations included two female solo artists (Miranda Lambert and Carrie Underwood) for the first time since 1979, when Crystal Gayle and Barbara Mandrell were both in the running. (If you combine female solo artists and all-female groups, last year’s nominations constituted the best showing for females in this category since 2000, when The Chicks and Faith Hill were both nominated.) Will female artists do as well this year?

Will Taylor Swift’s Fearless (Taylor’s Version) land an album of the year nod? The original version of Fearless won in this category in November 2009. Swift was also nominated for the CMA Award for album of the year with her next two albums, Speak Now (2011) and Red (2013), before she went pop. Will Swift’s re-recorded version of Fearless, which spent its first two weeks at No. 1 on Top Country Albums, be nominated for album of the year?

Will Kane Brown land an album of the year nod? Kane Brown’s Mixtape Vol. 1, which reached No. 2 on Top Country Albums, received an album of the year nod at the recent Academy of Country Music Awards. If the seven-song EP duplicates that fete here, the biracial Brown would be the first Black artist to land an album of the year nod at the CMA awards (as a lead or co-lead artist) since Charley Pride, who received four nods between 1969 and 1980.

Will the other albums nominated for album of the year at the ACM Awards also be nominated here? Four of the ACM nominees for album of the year are eligible here. In addition to Brown’s EP, they are Chris Stapleton’s Starting Over (which won the ACM Award), Luke Bryan’s Born Here Live Here Die Here and Brothers Osborne’s Skeletons. The Stapleton and Bryan albums both entered Top Country Albums at No. 1. Skeletons reached No. 4.

Will Underwood’s My Prayer land an album of the year nod? My Prayer wouldn’t be the first gospel or contemporary Christian album to be nominated in this category. Alan Jackson’s Precious Memories was nominated in 2006. Both albums hit No. 1 on Top Country Albums. Underwood has been nominated for album of the year five times, with Carnival Ride, Play On, Blown Away, Storyteller and Cry Pretty.

If My Prayer is nominated, Underwood would set a new record as the female artist with the most CMA nods for album of the year (as a lead or co-lead artist). She currently shares that distinction with Loretta Lynn, Reba McEntire and Lambert. (Lambert and Lynn could also land their sixth album of the year nods, but their entries were more modest hits – Lambert’s The Marfa Tapes, a collab with Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, which reached No. 7 on Top Country Albums; and Lynn’s Still Woman Enough, which hit No. 9).

Will Eric Church’s Heart & Soul put him in the album of the year finals for the fifth time? Eric Church has been nominated for album of the year with his last four studio albums – Chief (which won), Mr. Misunderstood, The Outsiders (which won) and Desperate Man. Church’s three-record opus Heart & Soul – or any of its components — could put him back in the running. Heart reached No. 3 on Top Country Albums, & made it to No. 12, Soul hit No. 2.

Will The Chicks’ Gaslighter put the trio back in the album of the year finals? The group, then known as Dixie Chicks, won in this category for Fly (2000) and were nominated for Home (2003), but weren’t even nominated in his category for their next album, 2006’s Taking the Long Way. Gaslighter, which entered Top Country Albums at No. 1, was passed over for an album of the year nod at the Academy of Country Music Awards and for a best country album nod at the Grammys. This is its last chance for major recognition at a top-tier country awards show.

After a bombshell court appearance, Britney Spears’ longtime court-appointed counsel Samuel D. Ingham III will resign from her conservatorship, according to documents filed Tuesday (July 6).

Ingham, who was court-appointed to represent Spears and has done so for the last thirteen years, was allegedly upset after hearing Spears’ virtual testimony to a judge last month, where she expressed, for the first time publicly, her desire for the conservatorship to end and for her father, Jamie Spears, to stop controlling her personal decisions, finances and communications. TMZ was first to report the news of Ingham’s resignation.

According to TMZ, Ingham had regularly given the 39-year-old Toxic singer options, including that she could request for the conservatorship end. But in Spears’ 20-minute testimony, she emphasized that she didn’t know she could petition for the conservatorship to end.

A recent New Yorker story noted that Ingham would report on Spears’ activities and movements and suggested that he may have been more loyal to the singer’s father and to the conservatorship. Spears covers his annual salary of $520,000.

Benny Roshan, chair of Greenberg Glusker’s trusts and probate litigation group, recently speculated that Ingham may announce his resignation due to Spears’ dissatisfaction. “If Britney really wants new counsel, and she tells enough people, there is a possibility that Ingham may consider it wise to resign and end on a high note rather than being removed by a court order,” said Roshan.

Spears’ manager Larry Rudolph resigned earlier this week amid reports that the pop singer has plans to retire. Rudolph had worked with Spears for the last 25 years, though has alleged that he has not been in contact with her for the last two and a half years due to her work hiatus.

Financial form Bessamer Trust, which was appointed as Spears’ co-conservator, also recently requested to resign from the role, citing her desire for the conservatorship to stop.

Among Spears’ few performances in recent years is her Piece of Me Tour in 2018. According to the New Yorker, her contract required she remain under the conservatorship.

This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.

Two years ago, a disturbing documentary about a globally famous pop icon won an Emmy for best documentary or nonfiction special. That doc, of course, was Leaving Neverland, which focused on allegations by two men that Michael Jackson had molested them when they were children. Another disturbing doc, Framing Britney Spears, could win in the same category this year.

The New York Times-branded doc centers on Britney Spears’ celebrity, her treatment by the paparazzi, and the court-ordered conservatorship under which she has been living since 2008, which has sparked the #FreeBritney movement.

When the 73rd annual Emmy nominations are announced next week (on July 13), the Spears doc appears to be a lock to be nominated.

Another music doc, Tina (HBO), about rock legend and survivor Tina Turner is also seen as a very likely nominee in the category, while still others are seen as having a reasonably good chance of receiving a nod: The Boy From Medellín, which follows musician J Balvin as he prepares for a concert in his hometown (Medellín, Colombia); The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart, a look at the famed brother trio, of which Barry Gibb is the sole survivor; and The Go-Gos, a look at the iconic female rock band.

The last two winners in the category — Leaving Neverland and The Apollo, about the legendary Harlem club — were both music docs, and both aired on HBO. Two other music docs have won in the category in the past decade: George Harrison: Living in the Material World, about the ex-Beatle, and What Happened, Miss Simone?, about Nina Simone, the singer and civil rights activist.

The award will be presented in September as part of the Creative Arts Emmy Awards. Those awards are a walk-up event to the 73rd annual Primetime Emmy Awards, which are set for Sunday, Sept. 19, on CBS.

Framing Britney Spears was nominated for best music documentary at the 2021 MTV Movie & TV Awards but lost to BTS’ Break the Silence: The Movie.

This year, 78 documentary or nonfiction specials are on the Emmy entry list, from which the five nominees will be chosen. Of those, 17 are music docs or non-music docs hosted by famous music stars (namely Cher and Ludacris).

Here’s a complete list of these docs, along with the Emmys’ capsule descriptions (reprinted with just minor edits for style):

The Bee Gees: How Can You Mend a Broken Heart: Chronicling the triumphs and hurdles of The Bee Gees. Brothers Barry, Maurice, and Robin Gibb, found early fame writing over 1,000 songs with 20 No. 1 hits transcending through over five decades. Featuring never-before-seen archival footage of recording sessions, home videos, concert performances, and a multitude of interviews.

Biggie: I Got a Story to Tell: Featuring rare footage and in-depth interviews, this documentary celebrates the life of The Notorious B.I.G. on his journey from hustler to rap king.

BlackPink: Light Up the Sky: Korean girl band BlackPink tell their story — and detail the journey of the dreams and trials behind their meteoric rise.

The Boy From Medellín: A portrait of an international music superstar. The Boy From Medellín follows J Balvin as he prepares for the most important concert of his career–a sold-out stadium show in his hometown of Medellín, Colombia.

Cher & the Loneliest Elephant: Cher and a team of vets, trainers, and more lead a large-scale effort to move a bull elephant, Kaavan from a rundown zoo to a faraway wildlife sanctuary, and they must do so during the most disruptive global emergency since World War II: the outbreak of COVID-19.

David Foster: Off the Record: A biography of the composer and producer David Foster, who has sold over a half billion records and produced the careers of Celine Dion, Barbra Streisand, Lionel Richie, and Michael Bublé.

Framing Britney Spears (The New York Times Presents): Her rise was a global phenomenon. Her downfall was a cruel national sport. People close to Britney Spears and lawyers tied to her conservatorship now reassess her career as she battles her father in court over who should control her life.

The Go-Go’s: The Go-Go’s chronicles the first all-female band to play its own instruments, write its own songs and soar to No. 1 on the album charts. Featuring testimonies, The Go-Go’s charts the meteoric rise to fame of a band born of the L.A. punk scene that created a zeitgeist.

I Want My MTV (Biography): [This film] charts the rise of a cultural phenomenon that came to define a generation: MTV. The network pushed the boundaries of art, sex, gender and race, cementing its image to celebrity. Featuring exclusive interviews with the network’s founders, VJs, artists, and journalists, and including rare footage.

Jimmy Carter, Rock & Roll President: The story of President Jimmy Carter’s relationship with music, the important role that music played in his life and work, and the bonds with musicians Willie Nelson, the Allman Brothers and Bob Dylan.

The Nine Lives of Ozzy Osbourne (Biography): [This film] traces the many lives and career of the man who personifies rock and roll rebellion. Ozzy reflects on his childhood in poverty, fronting Black Sabbath, his award-winning solo career, becoming a beloved 21s century television dad and his recent Parkinson’s disease diagnosis.

Orchestrating Change: The story of the only orchestra in the world created by and for people living with mental illness. Me2/Orchestra’s groundbreaking mission is to erase mental health stigma one concert at a time while changing the lives of these musicians in ways they never imagined.

P!nk: All I Know So Far: A behind-the-scenes look at P!nk as she balances family and life on the road, leading up to her first Wembley Stadium performance on 2019’s “Beautiful Trauma” world tour.

Shawn Mendes: In Wonder: Over the course of a world tour, this documentary follows Shawn Mendes as he opens up about his stardom, relationships and musical future.

Tina: A look at music icon, Tina Turner, and her improbable rise, and 1980’s career resurgence. It combines new interviews with Turner and her closest friends and family with never-before-seen footage and personal photos to tell the complete — and complex — story of the Queen of Rock ‘N’ Roll.

Voices Magnified: Locked Up in America: Chris ‘Ludacris’ Bridges gives a look into America’s prison system – the heartbreaking realities and life-altering consequences facing inmates, communities, and the nation. The special features a moderated conversation between inmates, calling from prison phones, and prison reform advocates about the challenges and potential solutions to the current system.

What Drives Us: Dave Grohl sits with some of the biggest names in music to discuss the joys and heartaches of touring the world in a van with your band and learning what it takes to connect with an audience and bring live music to the masses.

Here is a link to capsule descriptions of all the eligible docs in the category.

Tyler, the Creator’s Call Me If You Get Lost bows at No. 1 on Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart (dated July 10), one of six debuts in the top 10. It’s the second No. 1 for the artist. Also launching in the region: a reissue of Grateful Dead’s 1971 self-titled live album and the latest studio releases from Beartooth, Doja Cat, Gary Allan and Modest Mouse.

Plus, Lady Gaga’s former No. 1 Chromatica returns to the top 10 — and tops the Vinyl Albums chart for the first time — following its first release on black vinyl LP on June 25.

Billboard’s Top Album Sales chart ranks the top-selling albums of the week based only on traditional album sales. The chart’s history dates back to May 25, 1991, the first week Billboard began tabulating charts with electronically monitored piece count information from SoundScan, now MRC Data. Pure album sales were the measurement solely utilized by the Billboard 200 albums chart through the list dated Dec. 6, 2014, after which that chart switched to a methodology that blends album sales with track equivalent album units and streaming equivalent album units. The new July 10, 2021-dated chart (where Call Me debuts at No. 1) will be posted in full on Billboard’s website on July 7. For all chart news, follow @billboard and @billboardcharts on both Twitter and Instagram.

Call Me sold 55,000 copies in the U.S. in the week ending July 1, according to MRC Data. Physical album sales comprise 50,000 of that figure (40,000 CDs and 10,000 cassettes) while digital album sales comprise 5,000.

Call Me was made available as a 15-track standard digital download album, as well as in a 16-track deluxe digital and a streaming edition with one bonus track (“Safari”). The 16-track physical edition of the album, on CD and cassette, added a different bonus cut (“Fishtail”). A vinyl LP release has yet to be announced.

The CD and cassette were exclusively sold via the artist’s webstore and sold out within a day. They were available a la carte, as well as in four limited edition deluxe box sets that sold for $25 each. (The box sets included either a CD, shirt and poster or a cassette, shirt and poster.) It has not been announced if any further CDs, cassettes or box sets will be manufactured, nor if they will become available to any other retailers.

Rock band Beartooth debuts at No. 2 on Top Album Sales with its latest studio album, Below, bowing with 14,000 copies sold. It’s the first top 10 for the group, which previously topped out at No. 13 in 2018 with its last charting set, Disease (Oct. 13, 2018-dated chart). More than half of Below’s sales came from vinyl LPs, with a little over 7,000 sold via the format (53% of the set’s total first week sales). The title also bows at No. 2 on the Vinyl Albums chart.

Grateful Dead’s 1971 self-titled live album debuts at No. 3 on Top Album Sales following its 50th anniversary remastered reissue on June 25. The set, which was the band’s second live album, is often referred to as Skull & Roses, owed to its cover with a skeleton wearing a rose crown. The album sold 13,000 copies in the week ending July 1 (up from a negligible sum the week previous).

Though this album peaked at No. 25 on the Billboard 200 in 1971, this is its first week on the 30-year-old Top Album Sales chart.

The reissue also garnered an expanded CD and digital edition that adds 10 previously unreleased live recordings from the band’s July 2, 1971 show at the Fillmore West in San Francisco.

Olivia Rodrigo’s former No. 1 Sour falls 2-4 on Top Album Sales in its fourth week on the chart (10,000 sold; down 21%).

Doja Cat’s new studio album Planet Her debuts at No. 5 with nearly 10,000 sold, marking her first top 10 on Top Album Sales. 6,000 were via digital download and 4,000 came via CD. The CD had a limited pressing and was only available via Doja Cat’s webstore.

Gary Allan nabs his sixth top 10 on Top Album Sales as his new album Ruthless bows at No. 6 with 9,000 sold. It’s his first studio effort since 2013’s Set You Free debuted at No. 1 (Feb. 9, 2013-dated chart).

TWICE’s former No. 1 Taste of Love: The 10th Mini Album falls 3-7 in its third week with nearly 9,000 sold (down 19%).

Lady Gaga’s previous Top Album Sales leader Chromatica jumps back into the top 10, flying 82-8, following its 180-gram black vinyl LP release on June 25. In total, the album sold 8,500 copies across all formats (up 304%), and of that sum, 8,000 are in vinyl LP sales (up 354%).

Chromatica also hits No. 1 on the Vinyl Albums chart for the first time, re-entering the July 10-dated chart at No. 1. It previously debuted and peaked at No. 2 on the June 13, 2020-dated list.

The new vinyl edition of Chromatica was widely available to all retailers and is its first pressing on black vinyl. It accounts for the bulk of its total vinyl sales for the week. The album was previously issued as a picture disc, in a transparent vinyl variant, as well as in silver, milky clear and translucent yellow-colored pressings. (Until the black vinyl release, the only widely available pressing was the milky clear edition. The other variants were either sold exclusively via Gaga’s webstore or through specific retailers.)

The earlier released vinyl editions of Chromatica have sold a combined 68,000 copies.

Taylor Swift’s former No. 1 Evermore falls 4-9 on Top Album Sales with 8,000 sold (down 18%).

Modest Mouse’s new album The Golden Casket opens at No. 10 with nearly 8,000 sold. About 4,900 of that sum came from its CD, another 2,700 were from digital downloads and about 200 copies came via its cassette. The album’s vinyl LP edition is due in August.

The Golden Casket is the third top 10 on Top Album Sales for Modest Mouse. The act previously visited the top 10 with Strangers to Ourselves (No. 3 in 2015) and the chart-topping We Were Dead Before the Ship Even Sank (2007).